NORRISTOWN, Pa. – The woman accused of murdering her 11-year-old son had her May 10 preliminary court hearing postponed until Aug. 31, according to court records.
Ruth DiRienzo-Whitehead, 51, of Horsham Township, Pennsylvania, has twice had her preliminary hearing continued after the court ordered a psychiatric evaluation.
DiRienzo-Whitehead was taken into custody April 11 after the Cape May Police Department found her 2019 Toyota Highlander on the Cove Beach in Cape May. Horsham Township and Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, detectives were at the Whitehead home interviewing DiRienzo-Whitehead’s husband, Daniel Whitehead, when they were notified that the vehicle was found in Cape May. This led police to the Whiteheads’ shore home in Wildwood Crest.
DiRienzo-Whitehead was interviewed by detectives from Pennsylvania and, according to an affidavit of probable cause, she told detectives her son was upset about financial problems the family was having, so she strangled him with his father’s belt in order to spare him from growing up with these struggles.
DiRienzo-Whitehead was returned to Pennsylvania April 14 after a brief extradition hearing, where her attorney Eugene Tinari told Judge Bernard DeLury that his client did not wish to contest extradition.
Tinari told the Herald he believed DiRienzo-Whitehead was delusional, and he had questions about her mental state. A psychological evaluation will likely be completed before the Aug. 31 preliminary hearing date.
DiRienzo-Whitehead was charged with first and third-degree murder in the death of her son, Matthew Whitehead. She is being held without bail in the Montgomery County Correctional Center, which, under Pennsylvania law, is automatic in first-degree murder cases. A not-guilty plea was entered on DiRienzo-Whitehead’s behalf, which is also assumed under Pennsylvania law.
